ROGERS (KFSM) – State Sen. Jim Hendren lashed out at “angry” conservatives on Saturday (July 25) who are “trashing” elected Republicans and engaging in name-calling on social media sites.
“It’s untrue and hurts our party,” Hendren, R-Gravette, said of the attacks. He spoke to an audience of more than 40 people at a Conservative Arkansas meeting in the Rogers Public Library on South Dixieland Road.
On a screen in front of the darkened room, Hendren, seen in the photo above, showed tweets and other messages calling him and other Republicans, including Gov. Asa Hutchinson, “liars, cowards, backstabbers” and more for their handling of certain measures, such as the state’s private option health plan, that draw scorn from some conservative bloggers and campaign supporters.
Hendren noted that Republicans during the 2015 legislative session pushed through a conservative mandate that, among other items, addressed tax cuts, reduced the size of state government and began tackling prison reform.
However, those steps do not satisfy some “angry” conservatives who want to nitpick GOP lawmakers over one or two issues, he said.
Some of those critics are lining up opponents to run against conservative lawmakers in next year’s primary elections. For instance, state Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, has drawn a primary opponent, Sharon Lloyd, a Washington County Quorum Court member.
Much of Hendren’s address appeared to be aimed groups such as Conduit for Action, a Northwest Arkansas-based organization whose website states it supports “conservative policies” and promotes “economic freedom.”
Co-founder Joe Maynard was in attendance at Saturday’s address by Hendren. After the meeting, Maynard declined to discuss the address with 5NEWS, but he promised to email a statement. A short time later on Saturday, co-founder Brenda Vassaur Taylor emailed the following statement to Managing Editor Larry Henry. The statement is posted in its entirety:
It is interesting to Conduit for Action to learn that Senator Jim Hendren is apparently traveling the state to give presentations to local groups during which he spends no small amount of time attacking CFA for allegedly “attacking” his ideas of “conservative” policy.
Conduit for Action is a conservative action-oriented organization focused exclusively on reducing the size and influence of government in Arkansas in order to increase economic freedom for all its citizens.
Though we appreciate his attention to our work, it seems hypocritical that he attacks our small organization based on what he alleges are attacks by CFA.
Our words speak for themselves. For example, CFA was accused today of labeling “Hendren” as a liar–when in fact the article dated December 8, 2014 referenced in his slide named Senator Hendren “zero” times. Read it for yourself, please.
We have learned by observing the political arena (even as late as the 2015 General Session) that “titles”, like headlines, are not always indicative of the content but rather the attention getting mechanisms.
Serious issues that have long-term consequences cannot be resolved in a fifteen minute presentation.
In all due respect, this presentation has a depth of politics that it seems to lack in conservative policy.
CFA believes that perpetuating “big government” policies in order to end them have greater negative long-term financial and moral consequences than short-term positive benefits.
It is our belief that the current leadership tactics have little chance of reducing the size of government or dependency on government but assists those who wish to increase government controls and effects on all our citizens.
Although we concede that provocative words are often not helpful, we did not get the list of words from which we are allowed to choose. And in fact most all attributed to us today were not ours.
Founders
Joe Maynard
Brenda Vassaur Taylor
